Congress opens door to medical marijuana in D.C.

The Senate passed legislation Sunday that opens the door to the District of Columbia legalizing medical marijuana after over a decade of Congress blocking the issue through budget restrictions.

Nestled in the $447 billion omnibus spending bill approved Sunday by a vote of 57-35 is language that frees up Washington D.C. to use local money to implement a medical marijuana measure approved in a referendum by nearly 70 percent of voters in 1998, resurrecting an effort that has been stalled since Congress imposed a rider blocking money to actualize the measure. The House version of the spending bill passed last week included similar language, and President Obama is expected to sign the legislation this coming week.

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While the text of the D.C. referendum allows for “all seriously ill individuals… to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes when a licensed physician has found the use of marijuana to be medically necessary,” the measure’s advocates still face hurdles in making legalized medical marijuana a reality, including a cautious City Council and the possibility of further interference from Congress, which could have 30 days to review the 1998 vote before it becomes law.

“It's too early to say what will happen," said a spokesman for Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray in an interview with The Washington Times Thursday, anticipating the lift on the funding ban.

"It's been 11 years since anyone has looked at this,” Council Member Phil Mendelson told the Times. “I don't know what the next steps should be."

There’s also a chance federal lawmakers could reimpose the budget rider. But advocates of legalization are hoping to steer clear of Congress and proceed by jumping straight to regulating medical use of the drug through rulemaking, according to Washington City Paper.

“I wouldn’t submit a thing” to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s delegate to Congress, told the City Paper last Wednesday, arguing that the body had already made its position clear on legalization by lifting the funding restrictions.

“The Congress speaks when it says, 'We overturned that [rider].' That means you can do it."